Historical information retrieval system
An embedded unit contains a microprocessor and memory for storing video, audio, photograph, and written digital data pertaining to a monument. The microprocessor, when actuated by a visitor, communicates through a two-way radio transceiver to a visitor carried transceiver. The embedded unit includes a long-life battery and is activated only upon a visitor approaching the marker and momentarily contacting an activation switch or passing an activating dongle adjacent the embedded unit for initiating power to the embedded unit for the transfer of data. A Bluetooth® receiver, such as a cellular phone having Bluetooth® capability, a PDA with Bluetooth®, or other Bluetooth® device, is employed for reading and/or storing information contained in the embedded unit.
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) on U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/643,668 entitled MEMORIAL MEMORY MODULE, filed on Jan. 13, 2005, by Martin E. DeWitt, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to an electronic information retrieval system in which information in the form of data is stored and encapsulated within a permanent marker and can be accessed through an electromagnetic link by a visitor.
There have been proposed numerous methods of accessing information stored in monuments, such as historical monuments, grave stones, and other fixed locations where historical events have taken place or where a family member has been interned. Such systems frequently employ a physical electrical connection between a storage device contained within the monument and which receives power from a reading device. In some cases, the systems are self-powered either by battery or solar-powered cells. Recent suggestions have employed the use of direct contact devices, such as an I-Button®. Such systems, however, suffer the limitations that they either require specialized reading devices, which are not commonly available, or require multiple interconnected components which are prone to failure with time and weather conditions in the outdoor environment.
Thus, there remains a need for a system by which a visitor to a historical monument, grave site, or other location which may be of interest may retrieve information, such as video, audio, photographic, or written information relating to the site being visited.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe system of the present invention accomplishes this goal by providing a unique embedded module which contains a microprocessor and digital memory storage for storing video, audio, photographic, and written data pertaining to a person, place, or event. The microprocessor, in turn, communicates through a two-way radio transceiver, such as employing Bluetooth® technology, to a visitor to the area. The embedded unit is hermetically sealed and encased and sealed within a permanent marker against environmental conditions. The embedded unit includes a long-life battery and is activated only upon a visitor approaching the marker and momentarily contacting an activation switch or, in one embodiment, passing an activating card adjacent the embedded unit for initiating power to the embedded unit for the transfer of data. A Bluetooth® receiver, such as a cellular phone having Bluetooth® capability, a PDA with Bluetooth®, or other Bluetooth® or RF device, is then employed for downloading and storing the information contained in the embedded unit. In one embodiment, an intermediate device is employed to activate and retrieve information from the embedded unit and subsequently rebroadcasts the information to the visitor's receiver.
With such a system, a robust long-life embedded memory module is provided for storing data which can be easily accessed by a visitor utilizing commonly available cell phones and PDA's with Bluetooth® capabilities. The cost of such a unit is greatly reduced in view of the use of inexpensive, mass produced, electrical components and the visitor can use their existing Bluetooth® cell phones or PDA's.
These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description thereof together with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Referring initially to
Converting of information 12, 14, and 16 into a digital format which is usable and stored in flash memory can be provided by a service company or family members with the capability of converting such information into digital data. The company manufacturing the embedded device 30 may also provide the service to family members or organizations desiring to place an embedded memory module in a monument. Typically, the flash memory will be in the form of a programmable read-only memory with a capacity of anywhere from 128 megabytes to several gigabytes as required by the amount of information to be stored. Such memories are readily available from numerous commercial sources.
The embedded unit 30 communicates, as illustrated in
The circuit details of an embedded device of a first embodiment of this invention is shown in
The electrical circuit 40, as shown in
The Bluetooth® transceiver 56 has a useful range of about 30 feet, such that the visitor can stand a reasonable distance from the monument 20 once the embedded unit is activated. Once powered, the Bluetooth® receiver 100/110 will communicate with the transceiver 56 in a handshake operational mode, which is conventional, and the microprocessor 50 may be programmed to provide a sequence of operational instructions transmitted to the visitor, such as a menu of the type of information, such as video, audio, or written, which the visitor wishes to review and/or download. The visitor operating receiving device 100/110 may elect to store or simply review the data stored in flash memory 32 live through the display 102 or 112 on the Bluetooth® receiver 100/110, respectively. This information, as noted above, may include video footage in the form of streaming Mpeg video, JPG still images or other compressed format images, PDF files, or other readable data relating to the person, place, or event for which the monument has been placed.
Upon completion of the transmission of information from the Bluetooth® radio 56 through Ethernet connection 58, the microprocessor 50 will await a predetermined period of time, such as five minutes or the like, to await further communications from the reading device 100/110 and, if none are received, will provide a signal through line 52 to the electronic switch 38 which disconnects battery 36 for preserving power for subsequent use.
With the system of
The dongle 200, as seen in
Embedded unit 130 operates in a similar matter to embedded unit 30 in terms of its communication with the flash memory 132 and use of the clocked microprocessor 150, however, in place of a touch-actuated electrical switch 34, an inductive receiver 160 comprising a loop antenna 162 and demodulator contained within receiver 160 receives a signal from an inductive transmitter 260 contained within the dongle 200 and also including an antenna 262 when actuated by the visitor manually activating a switch 233 on the dongle 200. Activation of switch 233 couples a lithium battery 262 output to an electronic switch 266 which latches on for applying power through a three-volt regulator 242. The output voltage VCC from regulator 242 is applied to the various components of the dongle circuit, as shown in
The system 300 of
Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention employs RF frequency electromagnetic radiation as the communication link between the embedded units and the receiver or through the intermediary retransmitting device, it is understood that other electromagnetic energy at other frequencies likewise could be employed should receiving devices subsequently become universally available and popular in the future. It will become apparent to those skilled in the art that these and other modifications to the preferred embodiments of the invention as described herein can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A sealed storage unit for digital data, such storage unit adapted to be embedded within a monument, and comprising:
- a hermetically sealed housing; and
- an electrical circuit sealed within said housing and including a memory containing data relative to the monument into which said storage unit is mounted, a microprocessor coupled to said memory, a battery power source, a switch positioned in said housing to be actuated by a visitor to the monument, said switch coupled to said battery and to said microprocessor for providing electrical operating power thereto, and an RF transceiver coupled to said microprocessor for communicating with a handheld RF receiver carried by a visitor which, upon actuation of the electrical switch in said housing, transmits data from said memory to the visitor's handheld RF device.
2. The storage unit as defined in claim 1 wherein said memory is a flash memory.
3. The storage unit as defined in claim 1 wherein said switch is a pushbutton switch.
4. The storage unit as defined in claim 1 wherein said switch is a capacitive switch.
5. The storage unit as defined in claim 1 wherein said electrical circuit further includes a second switch coupled to said switch, to said battery, and to said microprocessor for latching to an on state for powering said electrical circuit for a predetermined time.
6. The storage unit as defined in claim 1 wherein said RF transceiver comprises a Bluetooth® transceiver.
7. The storage unit as defined in claim 6 wherein a visitor's handheld device comprises one of a Bluetooth® cell phone or Bluetooth® PDA.
8. A system for storing data within a monument for access by a visitor through a radio frequency (RF) transmission link comprising:
- an embedded unit including a microprocessor and a memory coupled to said microprocessor for the storage of information relating to the monument, a battery power source, an inductive receiver for receiving inductively transmitted signals from a hand-carried dongle, an electronic switch coupled to said inductive receiver and to said battery for coupling said battery to said microprocessor for providing operating power thereto, and an RF transmitter coupled to said microprocessor for transmitting data contained in said memory to a dongle; and
- a dongle which includes a power source, an actuating switch for coupling said power source to a microprocessor, said microprocessor coupled to an inductive transmitter which, when positioned adjacent said embedded unit in a monument, provides an activation signal received by said inductive receiver to activate said embedded unit, said dongle further including an RF receiver tuned to the frequency of said RF transmitter of said embedded unit for transmitting stored data from said embedded unit to said dongle microprocessor, and an RF transceiver coupled to said microprocessor for retransmitting data received from said RF receiver and said dongle to a visitor transceiver.
9. The system as defined in claim 8 wherein said RF transceiver uses Bluetooth® technology.
10. The system as defined in claim 9 and further including a visitor carried transceiver which is one of a Bluetooth® cell phone or Bluetooth® PDA.
11. A system for transmitting data relating to a monument to a visitor to said monument, said system comprising:
- a readable memory for storing one or more of video, audio, photographic, or text data;
- a hermetically sealed container for encasing said readable memory within a monument, said sealed container including a Bluetooth® transceiver and a circuit for transferring said data to said Bluetooth® transceiver; and
- a visitor carried Bluetooth® transceiver for reading said data in said readable memory.
12. The system as defined in claim 11 wherein said sealed container includes a memory containing data relative to the monument into which said container is mounted, a microprocessor coupled to said memory, a battery power source, a switch positioned in said container and accessible for actuation by a visitor to the monument, said switch coupled to said battery and to said microprocessor for providing electrical operating power thereto for a predetermined period of time.
13. The system as defined in claim 12 wherein said memory is a flash memory.
14. The storage unit as defined in claim 13 wherein said switch is a pushbutton switch.
15. The storage unit as defined in claim 13 wherein said switch is a capacitive switch.
16. The system as defined in claim 11 wherein said sealed container includes:
- a microprocessor;
- a memory for information relating to the monument coupled to said microprocessor;
- a battery power source;
- an inductive receiver for receiving inductively transmitted signals from a hand-carried dongle;
- an electronic switch coupled to said inductive receiver for coupling said battery to said microprocessor for providing operating power thereto; and
- an RF transmitter coupled to said microprocessor for transmitting data contained in said memory to a dongle;
- a dongle having a power source and an actuating switch for coupling said power source to a microprocessor, a microprocessor coupled to an inductive transmitter which, when positioned adjacent the sealed container in said monument, provides an activation signal for said inductive receiver to activate said switch for providing power to said embedded unit, said dongle further including an RF receiver tuned to the frequency of said RF transmitter of said sealed container for receiving stored data from said RF transmitter; and
- a Bluetooth® transceiver coupled to said microprocessor for retransmitting data received from said RF transmitter to said visitor carried Bluetooth® receiver.
17. The system as defined in claim 16 wherein said memory is a flash memory.
18. A method of providing information to a visitor relating to a monument comprising:
- collecting data relative to a monument;
- digitizing said data;
- storing the digitized data in a battery-actuated embedded storage unit which can be momentarily actuated by a visitor; and
- transmitting the data from said storage unit through a Bluetooth® transceiver upon actuation of said embedded unit to a visitor carrying a Bluetooth® transceiver.
19. The method as defined in claim 18 and further including:
- carrying a dongle which, when placed in proximity of the embedded storage unit, activates power to the embedded storage unit and which receives data therefrom; and
- retransmitting information received by said dongle through a Bluetooth® RF link to the visitor carried Bluetooth® receiver.
20. The method as defined in claim 19 and further including encoding the transmitting step to allow access to said digitized data only by users having a predetermined code.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 12, 2006
Publication Date: Jul 13, 2006
Inventors: Martin DeWitt (Wyoming, MI), Harvey Dumond (Hudsonville, MI), Robert Bouws (Hudsonville, MI)
Application Number: 11/330,464
International Classification: G06F 17/30 (20060101);